BRF, a major producer of frozen and refrigerated poultry products headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil, has now officially acquired 75% of Alyasra Foods’ frozen food distribution business in Kuwait. The $160 million transaction, reportedly finalized on November 21, was initially announced in August.
Established in 1988, Alyasra Foods is part of the Yousef A. Al-Sager Holding, a Kuwait-based fast moving consumer goods group engaged in fashion retailing as well as food distribution in the Middle East. Frozen vegetables, potatoes, poultry and meat items are among the products managed for regional and international brand name suppliers including Lamb Weston, Dr. Oetker and Sadia. Its reach extends to thousands of customers daily across traditional retail and foodservice operations as well as the HORECA sector and modern trade channels.
Meanwhile, BRF has targeted the estimated $13 billion market for processed foods in the Arab world for further penetration with the construction of a 1.7 million square foot factory at the Khalifa Industrial Zone (Kizad) in Abu Dhabi. The facility is equipped to produce a wide variety of value-added products ranging from beef burgers and cold cuts to franks, pizza and pastry at an initial rate of 30,000 tons per annum. Volume can be doubled or even tripled when needed, as a significant percentage of production is expected to be exported further afield to Indonesia and other countries.
The company has long been active in the region through its Sadia brand, which is well known among consumers. Shipments to the Middle East reportedly reached 850,000 tons last year, accounting for 32% of BRF’s total export sales.
